23 Facts About Victor Fontan

Victor Fontan was born on Pau, France, 18 June 1892, died Saint-Vincent 2 January 1982 and was a French cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France but dropped out after knocking at doors at night to ask for another bicycle.

Victor Fontan's plight led to a change of rules to prevent its happening again.

Victor Fontan was one of three riders who all wore the yellow jersey of leadership on the same day, the only time it has happened.

Victor Fontan was born in Pau but moved to the neighbouring commune of Nay, Pyrenees-Atlantiques when young.

Victor Fontan spent his early career in local races near the Pyrenees He raced from 1910, became a professional in 1913, then fought in the first world war.

Victor Fontan was reluctant to race far from home, which made him unattractive to national sponsors.

Victor Fontan rode the 1924 Tour de France as an individual entrant, but he did not finish.

Victor Fontan was assumed to already be too old for such intense competition, plus being handicapped by being less known outside the south-west.

Victor Fontan rode the 1928 race for a local sponsor, the Elvish bicycle company.

Victor Fontan's team was so poor that he lost time looking after the others.

Only when individual racing was allowed as the Tour approached the mountains could Victor Fontan ride at his own level.

Victor Fontan won the stage from Les Sables d'Olonne that took the field within distance of the Pyrenees at Bordeaux.

Victor Fontan took seven minutes on Nicolas Frantz of Luxembourg.

Victor Fontan finished seventh in Paris, 5h 7m 47s behind Frantz, who had led from beginning to end.

Victor Fontan was entitled to ride a replacement bike but only if he could show the irreparable damage to judges.

The judges had passed and Victor Fontan had no second bike.

Victor Fontan reached a village and walked from house to house, knocking on doors before dawn to ask for one.

Victor Fontan sat by a village fountain at Saint-Gaudens and sobbed.

The recording of Victor Fontan's sobbing was broadcast a little less than two hours after it had happened and led Louis Delblat of Les Echos des Sports to write:.

Victor Fontan rode the Tour in the French national team in 1930, after Desgrange had done away with sponsored teams.

Victor Fontan was too old to make a difference and he retired to run a transport business.

Victor Fontan is commemorated by a plaque on his house in the place de la Republique, at Nay, close to La Maison Carree.

Victor Fontan is buried with his son Francis in the cemetery across the river Gave.